My Gallbladder removal experience

hello,

i recently had my gallbladder removed laproscopically after 5 attacks in a year and most recently 3 in a week in which 1 of those 3 landed me in ER. A year ago just after covid, I had very few maybe 15 or so gallstones after my first attack that took me to ER, then my most recent ct scan showed it plumb full of stones so I met with pribably the best gallbladder surgeon in the area chosen by the VA btw, and decided it was time to take this thing out. fast forward a week which was 2 days ago, I had my surgery. was I worried or nervous, yes! I couldnt have had better care from the team, they were awesome! My surgeon answered all of my questions and got me into preop. In preop they put in the IV and then they started me on some woozy stuff. by the way they gave me some pills for nerve pain and nausea before going to preop. back in preop now. the surgeon had ordered a pain block for my stomach. this was to help with skin surface pain at the insertion sites after surgery. I asked them if they were going to do this after I was out and they said no we are going to do that now before you go in. I have to admit, I wasnt looking forward to twov4" needles being poked into my stomach, one on each side, so I bartered with them and they said "Ill tell ya what, we gave you some meds to make you woozy, how about we continue on and if at any time you want to stop we will stop. I agreed and they scrubbed my belly and proceeded to insert the first needle and I kind if remember them saying is left side is done, now for the right, then I was awaken in recovery by a voice saying ok Stan, your surgery is over and you are in recovery, everything went great. I have to say, I didnt feel the needle, or remember anything about the breathing tube or anything at all. I forgot to mention this was my first surgery ever in my 63 years.

Now home, surgery was friday about 12:30pm and its now Sunday 2 days later. 1st day home on oxycodone and pain block still working, I felt pretty good. slept well that night, next day was comfortable as long as I kept the pain pills going during the day every 4 or 5 hours. Very little pain at the 4 incision sites which were not stitched, but glued and bandaid applied after surgery. was outside most of that day, saturday, and went to bed around 11pm. Got up a couple times through the night to use the restroom and stomach was aching, especially at the sites. At around 7:30 I woke and couldnt go back to sleep due to the pain. I cane downstairs and ate a graham cracker to pit some food in my stomach for the meds then took an oxycodone 5mg and a zofran for nausea. I take them at the same time to avoid stomach upset. This seemed to calm the pain after about 20 minutes, then while sitting in the recliner, I experienced pain just like the gallbladder attacks I had and I got up and walked around holding my belly, remembering I was on pain meds and it shouldnt hurt, but it did bad. I went to the bathroom, urinated, and then layed on the couch kind of on my right side/stomach and after a few minutes the pain where my gallbladder was subsided. I sat back down in the recliner as Im writing this post, experienced another attack feeling just like before. I got up having an urge to poop this time fir the first time since surgery, and by the way be sure to take miralax or something to regulate your stool while on pain pills or you will suffer bad constipation. After this bathroom trip, I was elated to have my first bm since that day, and am hoping the pain goes away more. I did call my nurse that was in the paperwork, and after self assessment of incisions and all looked good, we determined I would see how it goes today, determining whether or not I return to ER. Its been about 30 minutes so far after the last pains, so far so good. thanks for letting me share as well.

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